Apparel Manufacturer Jerry Leigh of California Sees Significant Lift In HoodieBuddie™ Sales After Only One Month

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- In an industry first, three leading video advertising networks –YuMe, ScanScout, and BBE – teamed up to produce a comprehensive product launch case study that demonstrates how effective digital video is at driving brand awareness and purchase intent – two critical metrics that matter most to major brands. On August 3, the three networks, in conjunction with digital brand advertising effectiveness firm Vizu and Poptent, the leader in crowd-sourced video production, launched Jerry Leigh of California's HoodieBuddie™ – a patent pending innovation and the first hooded sweatshirt to feature machine washable headphones integrated into the drawstrings and a built-in MP3/iPod connector in the pocket – using no paid advertisements other than digital video.

In the crowded and competitive apparel industry, building a buzz among the brand-conscious 13- to 25-year-old demographic for an unknown product can be extremely challenging – especially for a product that is sold online. BBE, ScanScout, and YuMe saw this as a great opportunity to demonstrate and measure the branding capabilities and impact of digital video, and potentially bring about greater consistency regarding digital video metrics.

Can a brand be built online using nothing more than online video advertising? After one month, the results from the HoodieBuddie™ brand lift study conducted by Vizu imply they can. With the help of ScanScout, BBE, and YuMe, HoodieBuddie™ realized a:

205% increase in brand awareness, which is significantly higher than the average 18.7% seen in comparable Vizu brand lift studies

76% increase in purchase intent, far exceeding the 12.1% lift that Vizu typically sees in campaigns of this nature

In terms of creative format findings, it was discovered that the 15-second pre-roll ad generally out-performed the 30-second spot in driving brand awareness, but the 30-second spot generally out-performed the 15-second video ad in increasing purchase intent. There also appeared to be minimal ad fatigue among viewers – even after 10+ exposures – as evidenced by an increase in brand awareness as ad frequency increased.

"We are ecstatic over the successful launch of our HoodieBuddie™ line and were simply amazed that our partners were able to achieve such great success through the use of online video," said Andrew Leigh, President of Jerry Leigh. "This non-traditional approach was exactly what we needed to reach our target audience, and the experience has given me a new-found appreciation for what digital video can do."

The HoodieBuddie™ campaign generated tremendous brand lift, showing that these video ad networks are among the best in the game at moving the needle for brand advertisers," said Dan Beltramo, CEO of Vizu. "Given the wide swath of advertising we measure and help our customers optimize, I'm comfortable saying this campaign was an unmitigated success."

The experiment to launch an unknown consumer brand using nothing but in-stream video was conceived by ScanScout, YuMe and BBE, and was designed to showcase that the medium could be as effective as traditional broadcast media. Jerry Leigh agreed not to utilize other forms of paid advertising in order to isolate the results generated from the video ads. In addition to pre-roll distribution, ScanScout's Super Pre-Roll and Super Overlay along with YuMe's custom Triple Play ad unit were utilized.

"Some advertisers still view digital advertising as a direct response channel, but the reality is that there is so much more available," said Jason Krebs, Executive Vice President at ScanScout. "The HoodieBuddie™ launch case proves that digital video advertising can provide significant effectiveness for both online and offline marketers. Brands can safely acknowledge that digital video can achieve reach, scale and effectiveness for their target audience with the same manner of success that they have expected and applied through broadcast on behalf of their business for decades."

"From a marketing perspective, the HoodieBuddie™ campaign unequivocally demonstrated that digital video has the scale and measurability that broadcast advertisers desire, plus the ability to target specific audiences, build brand awareness and convert browsers into buyers," said Scot McLernon, Chief Revenue Officer at YuMe. "The experiment to see whether online video ads alone could move the needle among a desired demographic audience paid off handsomely for HoodieBuddie™, but it's also an eye-opener for major brands that digital video can achieve similar reach, scale and effectiveness of traditional broadcast TV ads."

"When creative is designed specifically with the web-video viewer in mind, in-stream pre-roll can be engaging and highly effective," said Joe Gallagher, executive vice president of Sales at BBE. "The HoodieBuddie™ initiative proves that marketers can build brand awareness and ultimately drive revenue by using online video in a smart and comprehensive way. BBE's work with YuMe and ScanScout to bring the initiative to fruition and see the results we did is exemplary of the collaboration possible to set industry precedent and drive innovation forward."

With no existing video assets available to launch HoodieBuddie™, Poptent created 15- and 30-second pre-roll video ads through an innovative production approach known as crowdsourcing. The top 50 producers from Poptent's network of 18,000 independent video creators were invited to submit their creative executions. Jerry Leigh reviewed the many submissions and chose two video ads they felt were the most compelling and innovative. The final ads can be seen online at http://www.hoodiebuddie.com/campaign/.

"Crowdsourcing is a cost efficient way of providing marketers with multiple quality video executions for use in online and offline sales initiatives," said Poptent President Neil Perry.

Vizu uses a concurrent test (exposed) and control methodology for measuring brand advertising effectiveness. In this approach, the same question is asked of two groups of individuals that are identical except for the presence (or lack) of exposure to the advertising from the campaign being measured. Since this is the only variable between the groups, the difference in how the groups respond to the question – Brand Lift - can be safely and completely attributed to the ad campaign. Survey responses are gathered evenly and randomly throughout the full campaign lifetime to ensure that the sample is free of any biases and is representative of the full campaign effect. Vizu also recruits survey responses directly from the actual campaign audience ensuring that the sample is free of any panel-based biases. Vizu's technology platform ensures that the control and exposed groups are identical and that the measurement is conducted in the classical experimental design approach.

About ScanScout

ScanScout, the leading in-stream video advertising provider, connects advertisers and consumers while maximizing brand impact and delivering unmatched transparency and measurability. Utilizing proprietary technology that ensures precision targeting, real-time optimization and peerless brand protection, ScanScout delivers exceptional brand engagement throughout the entire video-viewing experience and is consistently ranked among the top five video advertising networks by comScore. Partners include more than 1,000 premium and niche sites, including Starz, Gannett, Marvel, and NBC Universal. For more information, please visit: www.scanscout.com.

About YuMe

YuMe is a video advertising technology company that makes professional video profitable for publishers and effective for advertisers. Its robust ACE™ technology powers both its premium ad network and its industry-leading advertising management solution, ACE for Publishers. YuMe's premium ad network aggregates the best video content, representing hundreds of premium publishers. As a result, YuMe gives publishers and advertisers unprecedented reach, brand safety, contextual relevance, controlled syndication, and consistent delivery across all digital media platforms–Web, downloads, mobile, and IPTV. YuMe is a privately held company headquartered in Redwood City, CA and backed by Accel Partners, BV Capital, DAG Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Menlo Ventures. For more information, visit http://www.yume.com, follow @yumevideo on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/yumevideo), or become a fan of YuMe on Facebook at www.facebook.com/yumevideo.

About BBE

Since 2004, BBE has helped advertisers, content producers and content distributors navigate the constantly shifting terrain in the online video space. A one-stop-shop for video advertising, BBE enables brands to monetize, track and produce video across all devices. BBE combines a premium video ad network, innovative new formats, cross-network analytics and unparalleled service to maximize the ROI of video advertising for its clients. BBE also continues to set the standard for trust and transparency in the industry, having achieved accreditation by the MRC, as well as DoubleVerify and AdSafe certification. For more information, please visit www.bbe.com.

About Jerry Leigh of California

Jerry Leigh, established in 1962, is a family-owned clothing designer, manufacturer, and brand management company with a philosophy of designing fashion that reflects consumer's lifestyles, utilizing a wide range of brands and licenses. With over 750 employees worldwide, Jerry Leigh distributes to retailers at all tiers of distribution, from boutiques to mass market, and manufacturers apparel for everyone, from toddlers to adults. For more on Jerry Leigh, please visit www.jerryleigh.com.

About Vizu

Vizu Corporation (www.brandlift.com) provides a technology platform that measures and optimizes the effectiveness of digital media branding campaigns in real time. Vizu works with hundreds of brands, advertising and media agencies, online publishers and ad networks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the online brand building process. Vizu has replaced Click-Through-rates with Brand Lift as the metric of choice for online brand advertisers. With Vizu's Ad-Catalyst system in place, you can advertise with confidence.

About Poptent

Poptent is a video production platform that offers marketers a cost effective way to obtain high quality videos for their online and offline marketing. Through Poptent, brands can reach a community of more than 18,000 highly skilled independent video creators. Brands post assignments, receive numerous pieces of finished video content and then select and pay for only the content that best meets their marketing needs. Poptent has already helped dozens of major brand advertisers obtain fresh and effective video content, while enabling independent creative talent to earn money and gain exposure for their work. Please visit www.poptent.net for more information.